Yglesias Award Nominee

"Contra Rush Limbaugh, history’s actual fascists were not primarily
known for their anti-smoking policies or generous social welfare
programs. Fascism celebrated violence, anti-rationalism and hysterical
devotion to an authoritarian leader. To date, the Obama administration
has fallen rather short in these departments.

Perhaps uncomfortably aware of the shortcoming, the hardliners have
developed okay, invented really their own mythology about Obama
“brownshirts.” (The popular conservative website RedState.org literally
uses the term.) The complaint rests on a single case that of
conservative activist Kenneth Gladney, who got into a scuffle at a
townhall in St. Louis, Missouri. The altercation was captured on video
and you can watch it on YouTube. What you’ll see is a man, already on
the ground, and another man stepping back in order to avoid tripping
over him. The man on the ground is Gladney. Gladney walked away from
the confrontation and later went to hospital, where he was treated for
light injuries and released the same day. Whatever happened and whoever
started it, this happily bloodless encounter bears not even the most
glancing resemblance to the brutality that made Hitler’s brownshirts
notorious. And yet, look up Gladney’s name online and he’s suddenly a
poignant martyr.," - David Frum, New Majority.

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